Diabetes


Diabetes and your Feet

Tuesday, December 12th, 2006

1. Take Care of the Diabetes Work with your health care team to keep your blood sugar within a good range.
2. Check Your Feet Every Day Look at your feet every day for cuts, blisters, red spots, and swelling. Use a mirror to check the bottoms of your feet or ask a family member for help if […]

Preventing Diabetic Amputation

Wednesday, December 6th, 2006

People with diabetes have a 15 times greater risk of lower limb amputation than nondiabetic individuals. In many cases, the direct cause of amputation is obscure, although varying degrees of peripheral neuropathy, peripheral vascular disease, trauma, infection, and impaired wound healing are implicated. Foot ulceration, gangrene, and amputation result from the synergy of these underlying […]

Burning Feet

Tuesday, December 5th, 2006

Burning feet may be a temporary problem, such as athlete’s foot or sensitivities to fabrics or leather dyes. But if it continues over a longer period, it can be a more serious issue. A visit to the doctor for evaluation is recommended.
A serious cause of chronic burning feet is sensory peripheral neuropathy. This results from […]

Numbness in Your Feet

Tuesday, December 5th, 2006

Numbness can be caused by anything that upsets the nerve cell’s chemistry. Examples include diabetes, vitamin deficiencies, liver or kidney disease, cancer, Lyme disease and many drugs. In this country, diabetes is the most common cause of foot numbness, but the numbness usually occurs after long-standing diabetes.
Numbness is often associated with or preceded by abnormal […]

Diabetes and Your Feet

Sunday, October 15th, 2006

Did you know that about one in five people with diabetes enters the hospital for foot problems? In fact, many people with diabetes have mild to severe nerve damage. This can cause diminished feeling in the feet. As a result, you may not feel cuts, scratches, and breaks in the skin on your feet. These […]

Fun and interesting foot facts

Wednesday, October 11th, 2006

3 out of 4 people in the US experience serious foot problems but only a small percentage is born with foot problems.
Each foot has 26 bones, 33 joints, 107 ligaments and 19 muscles. A quarter of all the bones in your body are in your feet.
Walking is the best exercise for your feet, contributing […]

General foot care

Friday, October 6th, 2006

Foot care is really important but it is one part our bodies that we neglect too often. The skin is very delicate and we need to take good care of it if it is going to look good. Since the feet carry the weight of your entire body all day we need to be “aware […]

Cracked dry heels

Wednesday, September 27th, 2006

Dry cracking heels (xeorosis) is a condition of thickening and fissuring (cracking of the bottom part of the heels). This is a very common problem and in most people it is only a nuisance and a cosmetic problem. But when the problem persists, especially in diabetes or people with impaired vascular sufficiency, this can lead […]

Treating swollen feet, Swelling, edema

Saturday, September 16th, 2006

Swollen feet, sometimes called edema, is a condition where the muscles in the feet have an excessive buildup of fluid. Gravity pulls the fluid to your ankles and feet.
Swelling can be a symptom of a serious underlying problem, be it a sports injury, pregnancy, heart disease, fluid retention, kidney problems or another condition. If your […]